Bad weather doesn't stop dinner, service

The weather over the last few days has been awful, with an arctic blast of snow and cold. But this didn't stop the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation from having a Friday night service, shabbat dinner, and Shabbat morning service. I couldn't come to the dinner, because my son was stranded at his school because of school transport problems, but the dinner went ahead. It was sponsored by the student Jewish Society at Aberdeen University, who provided excellent food. Zion, who is no longer a student but still involved in JSoc activities, read the kiddush beautifully, and there was lots of singing afterwards.

On Saturday we had a Shabbat morning service, which we usually do on the first shabbat of every month. This attracted about a dozen people (numbers probably down a bit because of the snow). Continuing the musical theme, Sarah led us to much more singing than we usually do in our services, which I thought was a very nice idea.

Visit by Rabbi Rose: be fruitful or save the planet?

On Tuesday Rabbi Rose from Edinburgh visited us. We do not have our own rabbi, so Rabbi Rose visits us every month or two to discuss practical issues and then lead a shiur to discuss a Jewish topic. On this session we had about ten people (including the rabbi), and the shiur was about the contrast between the injunction to "be fruitful and multiply" and the need to look after the planet. From a Jewish perspective, should we have large families ("multiply") or small families (minimise environmental damage due to over-population)? We didn't reach any firm conclusions, but the discussion was interesting and enjoyed by all!

Committe meeting: money, part-time rabbi?

We had a meeting of the shul committee today. As usual, much discussion about money. Our building was purchased in 1945 and has been poorly maintained over the years, and many problems are now surfacing. We spent a fortune (by our standards) a few years ago fixing the gas, now it looks like we are going to have to spend another 10K or so fixing the electricity, which is a lot of money for a small community like ours. Depressing... donations are very welcome!

On a more positive note, there was an interesting discussion of trying to attract a PhD student to Aberdeen Uni, who would also serve as a part-time rabbi for our community, in return for us providing free accomodation in one of the shul flats. A lot of details are unclear and need to be discussed, but it certainly would be nice to have someone like this around!